1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephone station protectors, and more particularly, to a weatherproof telephone station protection suitable for outdoor use and includes means for holding the insulated wires in position until they are connected together.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
There are numerous devices available which are fabricated in two piece assemblies wherein an insulated wire is placed in a hollow housing and a second member is forced into the housing permitting the internal shorting mechanism to sever the insulation connecting the two wires together. Typical of this type of device is disclosed in the patent to Markwardt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,447, which issued on Apr. 24, 1984.
An additional weatherproof telephone station protector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,231, filed by Thomas J. Smith on Mar. 25, 1992, and which issued on Apr. 26, 1994, which functions in a manner similar to that to be described for the instant invention.
The patent to Kirk, Jr., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,425, which issued on Jun. 1, 1976, discloses a harness cable connector adapted to receive a plurality of insulated wires by a press fit retaining them in a spaced configuration during insertion and assembly of the wires into a printed circuit board.
The instant invention attempts to overcome the shortcomings known in the prior art wherein the two piece housings do not have any method for retaining the wires in position prior to the pressure exerted for shorting the wires together. In addition, the prior art has not shown the use of overvoltage protection together with back-up thermal protection and/or back-up air gap protection together with the holding mechanisms, as is disclosed in the instant invention.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a weatherproof telephone station protector module suitable for use exposed to the weather.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a weatherproof telephone station protector module which although constructed with two pieces may be held together without the use of any retaining screws or bolts until they are used.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a telephone station protector module which includes means for retaining the wires to be connected together in their position until the actual piercing of the insulation can be made and the wires connected together.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a weatherproof telephone station protector suitable for connecting together insulated electrically conductive wires of different sizes.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a reliable telephone station protector module which includes overvoltage protection and is handy to use in the field since all of the pieces are together prior to use.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a reliable weatherproof telephone station protector which permits the splicing of wires of the same or different sizes together requiring no special technique or tools and includes overvoltage and back-up protection in a single module.
Therefore, the present invention provides an apparatus, which overcomes the shortcomings found in the prior art and is capable of insuring a reliable module for overvoltage protection on telephone communication lines.